Two people will be nervously awaiting Luton Town v Hull City | OneFootball

Rob Edwards and Tim Walter know this Saturday's clash could be a crucial one for their futures.

Luton Town have a chance to get themselves back on track this weekend, when they face Hull City.

The Hatters have endured a fairly torrid start to the 2024/25 campaign, which was unexpected considering the quality they have in their squad and the fact they were only relegated from the Premier League earlier this year.

They may have lost former key man Ross Barkley, but with the squad they have, they should be fighting at the top end of the table.

Unfortunately, they are much closer to the bottom of the Championship at this point, and their 5-1 defeat at Middlesbrough before the international break gave the Hatters' board plenty to think about.

At this point, they have stuck with head coach Rob Edwards, but it remains to be seen whether he will still be at the club if he doesn't secure a positive result on Saturday against the Tigers.

Hull are another side that are struggling, with Tim Walter failing to establish himself as a success at the MKM Stadium thus far.

After a 2-1 home defeat against West Bromwich Albion just before the international break, that could have been curtains for the former Hamburg boss, but he's another manager who has managed to cling on to his job.

A positive result at Kenilworth Road will be required though - because he will only be able to continue for so long if he doesn't manage to get wins on the board.

Rob Edwards clings on to his job at Luton Town

With the players he has at his disposal, Edwards knows he needs to be doing a lot better than he currently is.

It's fair to say that the injury/suspension crisis they had at centre-back didn't help their cause, but even with this, they should have been able to get some more positive results out of a number of their games.

Boro were always going to be a difficult opponent to beat at the Riverside, but to lose 5-1 was extremely poor and a number of away fans voiced their displeasure after the game on Teesside.

The Hatters would be in a much better place if they were capitalising on their home advantage and winning points at 'the Kenny', but they lost against Queens Park Rangers, who are currently bottom, and surrendered a 2-0 lead against Oxford United earlier this season.

Edwards will be glad to be back at home this weekend, but as those games have suggested, they haven't exactly got a "home advantage" at this point, especially with many Luton fans likely to be disgruntled with results.

It's a surprise that he's still in the job, but he did take the club to the top flight and Luton's board seem to be fairly level-headed.

Their patience will run out at some point if Edwards can't start winning here - and anything other than three points against Hull could see him sacked.

Hull City supporters have turned against Tim Walter

Walter has faced just as much criticism as Edwards has this season, but owner Acun Ilicali recently spoke to Hull Live and gave the Tigers' boss his backing for now.

The Turkish businessman said: "We are not in a position to blame Tim or judge Tim at the moment.

"In order to judge Tim from my side, I must look at the bigger picture and only in one game, at Norwich City (4-0 defeat), we didn't have the chance to win. Apart from that, in the other 14 games, we had the chance to win the games.

"We've had some bad luck on the pitch in the nearly three years I've been here, but in the last four months, it's been by far and away the unluckiest period."

It could be argued that Walter is the lucky one - because he could have easily been dismissed during the international break.

Many fans have turned on Walter, chanting against him during the Oxford game earlier this month and making themselves heard again during the game against West Brom.

This criticism and unrest hasn't just been limited to stadiums, with the 49-year-old also being heavily criticised by Hull supporters on social media.

He may have Ilicali's backing for now, but the latter's mind could change very quickly if fans become more and more restless after the Luton game. Walter desperately needs a win in this match, therefore.